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| Clinton first linked Iraq with al-Qaeda |
| 2004-06-25 |
| The Clinton administration talked about firm evidence linking Saddam Hussein’s regime to Osama bin Laden’s al Qaeda network years before President Bush made the same statements. In fact, during President Clinton’s eight years in office, there were at least two official pronouncements of an alarming alliance between Baghdad and al Qaeda. One came from William S. Cohen, Mr. Clinton’s defense secretary. He cited an al Qaeda-Baghdad link to justify the bombing of a pharmaceutical plant in Sudan. Mr. Bush cited the linkage, in part, to justify invading Iraq and ousting Saddam. He said he could not take the risk of Iraq’s weapons falling into bin Laden’s hands. The other pronouncement is contained in a Justice Department indictment on Nov. 4, 1998, charging bin Laden with murder in the bombings of two U.S. embassies in Africa. The indictment disclosed a close relationship between al Qaeda and Saddam’s regime, which included specialists on chemical weapons and all types of bombs, including truck bombs, a favorite weapon of terrorists. The 1998 indictment said: "Al Qaeda also forged alliances with the National Islamic Front in the Sudan and with the government of Iran and its associated terrorist group Hezbollah for the purpose of working together against their perceived common enemies in the West, particularly the United States. In addition, al Qaeda reached an understanding with the government of Iraq that al Qaeda would not work against that government and that on particular projects, specifically including weapons development, al Qaeda would work cooperatively with the government of Iraq." Shortly after the embassy bombings, Mr. Clinton ordered air strikes on al Qaeda training camps in Afghanistan and on the Shifa pharmaceutical factory in Sudan. To justify the Sudanese plant as a target, Clinton aides said it was involved in the production of deadly VX nerve gas. Officials further determined that bin Laden owned a stake in the operation and that its manager had traveled to Baghdad to learn bomb-making techniques from Saddam’s weapons scientists. Mr. Cohen elaborated in March in testimony before the September 11 commission. He testified that "bin Laden had been living [at the plant], that he had, in fact, money that he had put into this military industrial corporation, that the owner of the plant had traveled to Baghdad to meet with the father of the VX program." He said that if the plant had been allowed to produce VX that was used to kill thousands of Americans, people would have asked him, " ’You had a manager that went to Baghdad; you had Osama bin Laden, who had funded, at least the corporation, and you had traces of [VX precursor] and you did what? And you did nothing?’ Is that a responsible activity on the part of the secretary of defense?" |
| Posted by:Dan Darling |
| #6 ... "before President Bush made the same statements." President Bush has never, ever stated publicly that there was a link btw alqida and soddom insane vis a vis the attacks of 9/11. In fact when asked roughly a week after 9/11 if there was a connection btwn soddoms iraq and the attacks he said "we have found no evidence linking Iraq and the attacks" , at a cabinet meeting w/ the cameras rolling -much to my (for one's) dissapointment. I don't see that tape rolling in heavy rotation. "The Clinton administration talked about firm evidence linking Saddam Hussein’s regime to Osama bin Laden’s al Qaeda network years before President Bush made the same statements." The Lying Liberal Media is trying to confuse the issue of whether the link between soddom and alquda (in general) is applicable to the Attacks on this Nation Sept. 11 (the specific): The Sept. 11 Commision has reported none of the evidence collected from the Feb. 29, 1993 attack on the World Trade Center, if even to provide some context concerning America as a target, or the relationship btwn soddom's iraq and that attack. There's even more evidence there, than is so far publicly known concerning 9/11. |
| Posted by: Annie War 2004-06-25 9:04:24 PM |
| #5 Atropanthe - I think he was in the bathroom at the time, something about drinking too much iced tea... |
| Posted by: Raj 2004-06-25 12:37:37 PM |
| #4 Hmmm. P-A-R-T-I-S-A-N. |
| Posted by: Chris W. 2004-06-25 12:05:06 PM |
| #3 Reason #189976 to hate the Patisan Press. |
| Posted by: Chris W. 2004-06-25 12:04:40 PM |
| #2 I guess Algore was out hitting up nuns or hugging a tree and missed this stuff? |
| Posted by: Atropanthe 2004-06-25 10:51:38 AM |
| #1 Hey! The dem's got the lie out there and the sheep are happy to accept it. "Bush Lied". Don't bother me with the corrections printed in 6 pt. font at the bottom of page A21. The media no longer concerns itself with the truth, but rather it only finds new ways to spin the truth to favor of the Democratic party. They report and it gives the Bush haters the official quotes they need in order to believe in and parrot the lie. |
| Posted by: Anonymous5333 2004-06-25 10:49:00 AM |